8 Jul
2026
8 Jul
'26
2:52 p.m.
On Wed, 8 Jul 2026, Kevin McQuiggin wrote:
Nice to see some photos. I have only ever read about
RAMAC and the only photos I have seen are IBM marketing photos from the late 50s/early
60s.
The one that Dennis Boone posted is not bad:
https://gallery.porterstreetcafe.com/vcfmw/2007/slide_71.html
In 1958?, Nikita Khrushchev visited USA to try to calm the cold war a
little.
He wasn't allowed to go to Disneyland!
He was a little upset. "Is there an outbreak of cholera? Have gangsters
taken it over, who might harm me?" etc.
He was given an incredible dinner in Hollywood. Mrs. Khrushchev expressed
disapointment about not going. Sinatra said to Niven, "Tell the old broad
that you and I will take her there, personally"
To make up for it, they took him to the IBM facility in San Jose, and
showed him Ramac construction. He was more impressed with the
efficiency of the self service cafeteria.
I think that the Cuban missile crisis would have been a lot less tense if
they were to have let him go to Disneyland!
New Yorker ran a cartoon that showed a submarine surfacing off shore, and
a fat man sneaking to Disneyland.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com
8 Jul
8 Jul
2:55 p.m.
New subject: IBM RAMAC platter
It could also be from a Boroughs drive that DEC called a RB drive.
On Wed, Jul 8, 2026 at 6:52 PM Fred Cisin via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
wrote:
On Wed, 8 Jul 2026, Kevin McQuiggin wrote:
--
Michael Thompson
Nice to see some photos. I have only ever read
about RAMAC and the only
photos I have seen are IBM marketing photos from the late 50s/early 60s.
The one that Dennis Boone posted is not bad:
https://gallery.porterstreetcafe.com/vcfmw/2007/slide_71.html
In 1958?, Nikita Khrushchev visited USA to try to calm the cold war a
little.
He wasn't allowed to go to Disneyland!
He was a little upset. "Is there an outbreak of cholera? Have gangsters
taken it over, who might harm me?" etc.
He was given an incredible dinner in Hollywood. Mrs. Khrushchev expressed
disapointment about not going. Sinatra said to Niven, "Tell the old broad
that you and I will take her there, personally"
To make up for it, they took him to the IBM facility in San Jose, and
showed him Ramac construction. He was more impressed with the
efficiency of the self service cafeteria.
I think that the Cuban missile crisis would have been a lot less tense if
they were to have let him go to Disneyland!
New Yorker ran a cartoon that showed a submarine surfacing off shore, and
a fat man sneaking to Disneyland.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com
9 Jul
9 Jul
12:06 a.m.
New subject: IBM RAMAC platter
There were a number of manufacturers early on. Rice University
may have had a Bryant (sp?) drive at one time. When I arrived
in 1973 there was a spare platter collecting dust in a storage
area.
mcl
7:09 a.m.
New subject: IBM RAMAC platter
On Jul 9, 2026, at 4:06 AM, Mark Linimon via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
There were a number of manufacturers early on. Rice University
may have had a Bryant (sp?) drive at one time. When I arrived
in 1973 there was a spare platter collecting dust in a storage
area.
Bryant made early drives for CDC, the 6603 if I remember right. Those have quite large
platters.
paul
12 Jul
12 Jul
11:29 p.m.
New subject: IBM RAMAC platter
On Thu, 9 Jul 2026, Michael Thompson wrote:
And Burroughs, too. They also built large fixed-head disk drives for OEMs
(e.g. Telefunken TSP 500)
Christian
On Jul 9,
2026, at 4:06?AM, Mark Linimon via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
There were a number of manufacturers early on. Rice University
may have had a Bryant (sp?) drive at one time. When I arrived
in 1973 there was a spare platter collecting dust in a storage
area.
Bryant made early drives for CDC, the 6603 if I remember right. Those
have quite large platters. 
13 Jul
13 Jul
12:29 a.m.
New subject: IBM RAMAC platter
Boroughs had a plant in Winnipeg for makong drives got one of their reject
platters hanging on my wall
On Mon, Jul 13, 2026, 2:30 a.m. Christian Corti via cctalk <
cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
On Thu, 9 Jul 2026, Michael Thompson wrote:
And Burroughs, too. They also built large fixed-head disk drives for OEMs
(e.g. Telefunken TSP 500)
Christian
> On Jul 9, 2026, at 4:06?AM, Mark Linimon via
cctalk <
cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
There
were a number of manufacturers early on. Rice University
may have had a Bryant (sp?) drive at one time. When I arrived
in 1973 there was a spare platter collecting dust in a storage
area.
Bryant made early drives for CDC, the 6603 if I remember right. Those
have quite large platters.
7:06 a.m.
New subject: IBM RAMAC platter
On 7/13/26 02:29, Christian Corti via cctalk wrote:
On Thu, 9 Jul 2026, Michael Thompson wrote:
And Burroughs, too. They also built large fixed-head disk
drives for OEMs (e.g. Telefunken TSP 500)
Years ago I traded some stuff and got a HUGE fixed-head disk
(I think made by VTC) that had a 3 foot diameter single
platter that ran at 1200 RPM. It had banks of 8 heads on
large ceramic sliders and the disk was on a linear bearing
so that flyweights could load the platter onto the heads
when up to speed. Some experimenting with it (I had ZERO
docs with it) indicated I would have some difficulty getting
more than about a megabyte on it. I forget whether it had
32 or 64 tracks. The max capacity was 256 tracks.
It was used with an accounting/billing system that looked
like a desktop calculator made by Mohawk Data Sciences. I
think it was called a mem-O-ree. This thing was all
wire-wrapped and pre-computer.
Jon
On Jul 9,
2026, at 4:06?AM, Mark Linimon via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
There were a number of manufacturers early on. Rice
University
may have had a Bryant (sp?) drive at one time. When I
arrived
in 1973 there was a spare platter collecting dust in a
storage
area.
Bryant made early drives for CDC, the 6603 if I remember
right. Those have quite large platters. 
6:48 p.m.
New subject: IBM RAMAC platter
Does anyone recall the Wang Labs model 710 disk for the 720 programmable
calculator?
It used 14" brown oxide removable hard disk platters, we lifted the lid
like a top loading washing machine, took a platter out of its paper
sleeve, wiped any dust off with an alcohol pad, placed the platter on
the spindle, closed the cover and pressed the on/off switch to spin it up.
It worked fine, and IMHO was more reliable (and WAY faster) than the
built-in cassette tape drive on the 720.
So if you find a plain 14" brown platter, could be from a Wang 710.
-Robert
On 7/13/26 8:06 AM, Jon Elson via cctalk wrote:
On 7/13/26 02:29, Christian Corti via cctalk wrote:
On Thu, 9 Jul 2026, Michael Thompson wrote:
And Burroughs, too. They also built large fixed-head disk drives for
OEMs (e.g. Telefunken TSP 500)
Years ago I traded some stuff and got a HUGE fixed-head disk (I think
made by VTC) that had a 3 foot diameter single platter that ran at
1200 RPM. It had banks of 8 heads on large ceramic sliders and the
disk was on a linear bearing so that flyweights could load the platter
onto the heads when up to speed. Some experimenting with it (I had
ZERO docs with it) indicated I would have some difficulty getting more
than about a megabyte on it. I forget whether it had 32 or 64
tracks. The max capacity was 256 tracks.
It was used with an accounting/billing system that looked like a
desktop calculator made by Mohawk Data Sciences. I think it was
called a mem-O-ree. This thing was all wire-wrapped and pre-computer.
Jon
On Jul 9,
2026, at 4:06?AM, Mark Linimon via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
There were a number of manufacturers early on. Rice University
may have had a Bryant (sp?) drive at one time. When I arrived
in 1973 there was a spare platter collecting dust in a storage
area.
Bryant made early drives for CDC, the 6603 if I remember right.
Those have quite large platters.
21
days inactive
27
days old
7 comments
8 participants
participants (8)
-
Adrian Stoness -
Christian Corti -
Fred Cisin -
Jon Elson -
Mark Linimon -
Michael Thompson -
Paul Koning -
Robert Marinelli